If there is anything I’ll take away from the 2021 Thanksgiving NFL Week it is to always be thankful for any future NFL Thanksgiving Day games considering it is extremely unlikely I may ever see two teams as hard to watch as Detroit and Chicago were on Thursday. Fortunately, we received a post meal nap jolt with the Raiders and Cowboys game going off the Richter scale. After the big meal and multiple days of leftovers, we all were able to sit down and watch a Sunday that included another dominant win from New England, one more injury for Christian McCaffrey, and a couple big wins for some playoff hopeful teams.
Patriots Revival Continues
The New England resurgence is starting to feel like it’s for real. In a season where it doesn’t appear that there is a clear favorite, there may be no team in the NFL who seems like a better bet than the Patriots at this point in the season. The Pats extended their winning streak to six games with a 36-13 coast against Tennessee. The Titans were obviously beat up on offense with Derrick Henry, Julio Jones, and A.J. Brown out, but the Patriots took care of business as expected. Mac Jones is in a perfect situation as a rookie quarterback by playing on a team with the NFL’s strongest defense. It’s allowing Jones to find his way while not requiring him to play hero ball and take unnecessary risks. With Jones continuing to looker stronger each week, this team may continue to get stronger. With two games against Buffalo in the next three weeks, the Pats have an opportunity to put a stranglehold on the AFC East.
Packers Return To Winning Ways
Aaron Rodgers led Green Bay to a 36-28 win against the Los Angeles Rams in an important win that returns the Packers to the win column while also staying on Arizona’s heels for the NFC #1 seed. The final score makes the game seem closer than it actually was as Green Bay held a 36-17 point lead entering the fourth quarter. Green Bay now holds wins against the top two teams in the NFC West, the Rams and Cardinals, which is a nice card to hold when it comes to playoff tie breakers. Even with a loss at Minnesota last week, the Packers have good reason to believe they are one of the best teams in NFC and with only one above .500 team (Baltimore) left on their schedule, they should have a strong play at a first round bye.
Raiders Spoil Thanksgiving For Cowboys
Las Vegas gave up plenty of yards and points in their Turkey Day game against Dallas, but never played from behind in their 36-33 overtime win. Derek Carr and Dak Prescott put on an offensive passing show even without some of their best weapons available. Dallas entered the game without wideouts CeeDee Lamb and Amari Cooper, while Raiders tight end Darren Waller left the game with a knee injury. The injuries didn’t stop the two teams from accumulating nearly 1000 yards of offense in the only visually pleasing game of Thanksgiving Day (sorry again Bears and Lions fans). It was an important win for Las Vegas as it keeps them in a three way tie for second place in the AFC West and only a game behind Kansas City. On the other hand, Dallas, a team that seemed like a sure thing for the NFC East title, now is getting the slightest bit of hope to its NFC East rivals. With four of their final six games against divisional foes, the Cowboys better fix their issues soon or they could be playing themselves right out of the postseason.
Bengals Make Statement With Pittsburgh Slaughter
If there was any question that Pittsburgh is done for, it was officially confirmed on Sunday afternoon after Cincinnati beat them like a dead horse, 41-10. Joe Mixon cruised to 165 yards and two touchdowns as the Pittsburgh could not do anything to stop him. Ben Roethlisberger continues to show he is a 6’ 5” and 240 lbs 39 year old quarterback as he threw two interceptions and had a 65.4 quarterback rating on the day. It’s a tale of two teams going in opposite directions as Pittsburgh finds themselves in the cellar of the AFC North and the Bengals are now a game behind Baltimore for the division lead. With the AFC playoff race still being wide open between most of the conference, every game is crucial. The Steelers will have their hands full even more now with their final schedule consisting of Baltimore (twice), at Minnesota, at Tennessee, at Kansas City, and Cleveland. Yeah, Pittsburgh might as well call it a season.
Bucs Survive Trip To Indy
It was the Leonard Fournette show as he rushed for 100 yards and scored three touchdowns in a 38-31 Tampa Bay win over the Indianapolis Colts in a game that went right down to the wire. To give credit where credit is due, this Colts team has become pretty gritty after starting the season 1-4. Indy took a 24-14 lead into halftime, but the Bucs scored 17 straight points in the second half to take and hold the lead for a strong road win. The Bucs relied heavily on Fournette in the redzone while Tom Brady had a relatively quiet day throwing for 226 yards, one touchdown, and an interception. The game offers the reminder that Tampa Bay is so loaded offensively that they can win in a variety of ways. The only team with a winning record in Tampa’s final regular season games is Buffalo so they should continue to rack up a few more wins prior to them preparing for the postseason.
Niners Run Over Vikings
In a game between two NFC playoff hopefuls, the San Francisco 49ers used the running abilities of Elijah Mitchell and Deebo Samuel to win the trench war again the Minnesota Vikings. The Niners ran for 208 yards which eventually opened up passing lanes for Jimmy Garappolo to keep the Vikings defense completely off balance. The most concerning thing for the Vikings is that they had to know San Francisco was going to attempt a heavy amount of runs and they still couldn’t stop them. To make matters worse, Minnesota will lose Dalvin Cook for some time as he left the game due to a torn labrum. As it stands, both teams are still in playoff position and seem like they are two of the strongest seven teams in the conference. Whether they prove that in the final weeks, time will tell.
Looking Ahead to Week 13
It’s not often that the Monday Night Football game is the top of the class, but that is exactly the case for this week. New England vs Buffalo. HERE. WE. GO. A game that would seem like a decent late season division game at the beginning of the season is now a super spicy match up between two of the favorites in the AFC with huge division implications on the line. The Buffalo offense hasn’t been as dominant as last season, but still shows the ability to put huge points on the board. The New England defense is legit and that chess match will be fun to watch. It will also be the biggest game Mac Jones has ever played in. Buckle up.
The rest of the week is pretty blah. Dallas and New Orleans is an interesting Thursday game for different reasons for both teams. Dallas has been a bit schizophrenic lately and needs to show the consistency they had at the beginning of the season. New Orleans can’t afford many other losses if they hope to keep pace with Minnesota and San Francisco for the NFC Wild Card.
Chargers/Bengals should be a fun game with the potential to have a lot of points. Los Angeles has been another team who has been super inconsistent. Hopefully both Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow can put on a show for football fans.
The only other game that somewhat interests me is the Sunday Night game between Denver and Kansas City. Denver is coming off a dominant win over the Chargers. When the Broncos play well, they seem to play really well. I’m mostly excited for this one to see if the Chiefs are able to continue their climb back up to the top of the AFC and to see how the offense performs against a strong defense. Their slow turn around has been intriguing to watch.
Considering the rest of the games are mostly good teams versus bad teams, there’s no doubt in my mind that we will see some surprising outcomes. I’m mostly excited to see which teams shit the bed this week and why one of those teams will be the Minnesota Vikings against the Lions. Just kidding…I hope.